Project Nuke Flatworms!

[Morgan]

Hi guys

I will be nuking my 8' tank this coming Sunday.

After much deliberation and probing from AT, I 've decided to bite the bullet and do it. Get rid of those buggers once and for all. There are million and millions of them. They covered almost all the LR making everything look brown in colour.

Target to finish the whole operation within the day.

I'll will have to remove all my corals 1st.

AT, Tanzy and Rumor volunteered to help.

Probably AT or Tanzy will be taking pics of the whole event.

[wedgee]

WOW Lucky thing i read much abt Flatworms from all the marine forums and killed them whenever i saw them...

Brave thing to attempt Morgan! I salute yr effort even before it has begun...Good thing u have buddies to help out in yr cleanup operation!

GOOD LUCK

[harlequin]

Can take a picture of the tank with the flatworms before nuking ?

Need someone to supply cyanide ?

[Morgan]

wedgee, Thanks. Hope my die off is minimum.

harlequin, you can supply cyanide?

Pics, I am sure Tanzy will take some.

[chanbi]

Good luck Morgan!!

[harlequin]

Morgan,

Just contacted my Philippines suppliers, they are still on holidays leh....

sigh...if not, at leaset can get you 20 kg worth....

[Tanzy]

You must be kidding. Only a pharmacist can bring in cyanide without a license.

[hongqixian]

Hi guys

I will be nuking my 8' tank this coming Sunday.

After much deliberation and probing from AT, I 've decided to bite the bullet and do it. Get rid of those buggers once and for all. There are million and millions of them. They covered almost all the LR making everything look brown in colour.

Target to finish the whole operation within the day.

I'll will have to remove all my corals 1st.

AT, Tanzy and Rumor volunteered to help.

Probably AT or Tanzy will be taking pics of the whole event.

How exactly are you nuking it? Not with cyanide!?

[Morgan]

Happy New Years Guys

Thanks chanbi.

Hong definitely not with cyanide, I am only killing flatworms, not the whole tank. harlequin is just kidding.

[harlequin]

New Year mood mah....if Morgan uses cynanide, he can throw away the whole tank and rocks.

[chanbi]

So cynanide can kill rock and coral too? I only know they kill fishes?

[Achilles Tang]

Yes.... indiscriminate fishermen, fish collectors use cyanide to squirt into coral heads to stun hiding fishes so they float out and are easily netted. Or they have to break the corals just to get at the fishes if they don't come out.

Corals then bleach as a result of the cyanide. It's very well documented.

It's as bad as dynamite fishing... fishes get stunned and corals are blown apart. You will see lots of crushed corals everywhere.

[spade]

from Environmental News Network

Reefs suffer from poisoning, blasting

By David Suzuki

Wednesday, October 03, 2001

Anyone who has ever dived at healthy coral reefs knows how spectacular they can be: communities of fish, coral, and invertebrates in a riot of color and shape. But sadly, those same qualities are also leading to many reefs' downfall.

Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) doesn't mince words. The reefs are over-fished, bombed, and poisoned, he said. They are smothered by sediment and choked by algae growing on nutrient-rich sewage and fertilizer run-off.

The UNEP has just finished the first World Atlas of Coral Reefs, and it has some disturbing findings. Coral reefs are among the world's most beautiful and diverse ecosystems, but they are increasingly rare and their abundance has been vastly overestimated, according to the new atlas. Calculations done for the UNEP indicate that coral reefs actually cover less than one-tenth of one percent of the ocean. That's less than half of previous estimates.

The atlas points out that reefs are under threat from warming oceans due to climate change and a number of other human activities, including fishing by explosives and cyanide. Such practices are common in the trade of live marine aquarium animals, especially in countries that lack enforcement like Indonesia and the Philippines — home to the world's largest and third-largest areas of coral reefs respectively. Together, these two nations supply 85 percent of the world's tropical fish that end up in saltwater aquariums and as live entrees for upscale Hong Kong restaurants.

Fishing with poisons or explosives may seem bizarre — and it is illegal in these countries — but it still happens. Divers squirt cyanide at tropical fish, for example, to disable them and make them easier to catch. As might be expected from using such a deadly poison, this practice also kills a huge percentage of the intended catch. Up to 50 percent die almost immediately according to a report in Scientific American. And 40 percent of the survivors die before they make it to an aquarium.

Cyanide is also toxic to the coral itself. Laboratory tests on 10 species have shown that cyanide diluted to concentrations thousands of times lower than those used by divers can kill most coral species outright. Those that survive initially usually die within months. According to the nonprofit International Marinelife Alliance (IMA), collectors in the Philippines have squirted more than 1 million kilograms of cyanide onto the country's reefs during the past 30 years. The method has also spread to neighboring countries like Indonesia, where the government admits that less than 7 percent of the nation's reefs are still in good condition and some 82 percent are currently at risk from poisoning and blast fishing.

Coral reefs are not just important because of their beauty and tourism potential. They also serve as a breeding ground for important food fish, protect shorelines, and harbor an incredible diversity of life, including 25 percent of all marine fish species. Important drugs have been obtained from reef organisms, including the HIV-fighting AZT, which is based on chemicals derived from a Caribbean reef sponge. And there is still much to be discovered. Scientists have only identified perhaps 10 percent of the more than 1 million species believed to inhabit coral reefs.

There are hopeful signs that Asia's coral reefs can be protected. In the Philippines, the IMA has helped train thousands of fish collectors to use nets rather than poisons or explosives. The Philippine government has also started randomly testing fish destined for export, and the number testing positive for cyanide has dropped considerably in recent years.

The nonprofit Marine Aquarium Council also recently started a voluntary certification program to encourage trade in aquarium fish that have not been caught using poison or explosives. For the health of coral reefs around the world, it is vital that this certification become the industry standard.

Over the long run, the greatest threat facing coral reefs may be warmer waters due to global warming. But the most immediate threats come from more tangible and, hopefully, more easily preventable sources.

[Morgan]

Just an update:

I got AT, Tanzy, Rumor, dodo and pacificbetta coming over to help....

So will see you guys this Sunday.

Many Thanks guys.

[clowntrigger]

Hi Morgan

There is a new product from Salifert, Flatworm exit, and is receiving alot of good commend over the RC, have you thought of trying it? Or is it just a hoax again?

[Morgan]

Read about it on RC but it is not avialable here. I think you have to wait a long time or forever as you still cannot find it online. Not sure whether this product is launch onto the market yet or just random selected testing.

[Achilles Tang]

Morgan,

Can you PM me your hp?

I lost my phone last nite.

[Stenopus Hispidus]

Hey guys...Having fun out there

Are the flat worms history now!

[Tanzy]

Hopefully they are history!

This is a picture of the flatworms in their full glory. They were on every

surface exposed to the sun. Got to see it real life to make your skin crawl.

These here are probably Convolutriloba retrogemma.

[Tanzy]

This is a picture of the treatment tubs where the flatworms were dying and leaching their yellow body fluids into the water. You can see the yellow stain on the plastic due to their juice.

[harlequin]

You can also see lots of these flatworms at LCK.

[Achilles Tang]

Morgan's tank before nuking...

Morgan's tank after nuking...

And the story and photos for the in-between coming soon!!!

[Morgan]

Hey guys...Having fun out there

Are the flat worms history now!

Yeah! We have a blast.

I would like to thank AT, Tanzy, Rumor, Dodo and Pacificbetta for their help.

Without them I would not even want to consider nuking my tank.

Manage to complete everything.

It was back breaking. I am sure the guys would agree.

Hope that the last time I see flatworm in my tank.

[Achilles Tang]

The gang... morgan, pacificbetta, tanzy, rumour & dodo. I am not in this pix.

[Tanzy]

The Flatworm Busters busy at work. Don't ask me what they are doing.